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Biden visits wounded soldiers at military medical centre
President Joe Biden is urging Congress to “act now” on his $1.9tn Covid-19 relief proposal, saying there is an “overwhelming” consensus among economists that a stimulus package is needed to help Americans hardest hit by the pandemic.
Mr Biden said Democrat lawmakers must take action with or without cooperation from their Republican colleagues, adding that the cost of inaction in this “unique moment” is “high”.
“I support passing Covid relief with support from Republicans, if we can get it,” Mr Biden told lawmakers last night. “But the Covid relief has to pass with no ifs, ands or buts,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Republican Party remains split over former president Donald Trump’s impeachment.
Senate minority whip, John Thune, said Mr Trump’s actions in the lead up to the Capitol riot were “indefensible”, although the South Dakota lawmaker was hesitant when asked by CNN what should be done with the former president. “Well, that’s a good question,” he said. “One way, obviously, would be in a court of law.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene, on the other hand, is sticking to her guns and flat out denying that the former president had anything to do with the riot that left five people dead. “President Trump did not cause the attack on the Capitol on 6 January,” she told supporters earlier this week.
In other developments, Congresswoman Cori Bush is requesting that her office is moved away from Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene for her own “team’s safety”.
Ms Bush, representative for Missouri’s 1st congressional district, said she and her staff had been “berated” by Ms Greene, representative for Georgia’s 14th congressional district.
“I didn’t move my office out of fear,” she said. “I moved my office because I’m here to do a job for the people of St Louis. “What I cannot do is continue to look over my shoulder wondering if a white supremacist in Congress is conspiring against me and my team. Our focus is St. Louis.”
Ms Greene, an avid supporter of Donald Trump, has previously expressed support for the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory and has been accused of racism.
The newly-appointed lawmaker is refusing to resign after social media videos emerged appearing to show her voice support for 9/11 and other conspiracy theories.
Wisconsin Senator Ron Jonson weighs up Trump loyalty ahead of 2022 race
After President Donald Trump lost his reelection bid, most Senate Republicans, his Justice Department and the courts dismissed or disputed his baseless claims about a “stolen election.” Not Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson
The GOP senator used his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security Committee to highlight Trump’s allegations, claiming millions of Americans “have real, legitimate suspicions that this election was stolen” and worrying about “so many irregularities here.”
That sort of fealty to Trump has endeared Johnson to the far-right base in his state, but it could prove costly if he decides to seek a third term in 2022.
Matt Mathers30 January 2021 13:30
Biden thanks staff for taking care of son Beau in 2015 at military medical centre
Matt Mathers30 January 2021 13:10
Government pleads with migrants waiting in Mexico ‘to be patient’
The Biden administration is urging migrants waiting in Mexico under restrictions imposed by former US president, Donald Trump, to be patient, even as the population of a makeshift camp in northeastern Mexico begins to swell with hopeful asylum seekers.
On Friday, a senior aide to current US president, Joe Biden, said the administration is working on a system to process the asylum seekers who are waiting in Mexico under a Trump-era program known as Migrant Protection Protocols.
“We’re reviewing now how we can process the migrants who are already in this program,” the aide, Roberta Jacobson, said on a call with reporters. “How to prioritize the people who were enrolled not only months but years ago, and above all, people who are the most vulnerable.”
Jacobson said all of those waiting in Mexico under the program will have an opportunity to present claims.
The protocols, in place since 2019, pushed more than 65,000 asylum seekers back across the border to wait for their U.S. court hearings, although far fewer are believed to still be in Mexico.
The Biden administration stopped adding people to MPP last week, but has not outlined how it will process the claims of those already enrolled.
Advocates have documented the dangers they face while waiting, including rape and murder.
Jacobson said the administration would process people “in a much more rapid manner than in the past.”
Matt Mathers30 January 2021 12:55
Woman charged in Capitol riot said she wanted to shoot Pelosi ‘in the friggin’ brain,’ FBI says
Federal authorities arrested two women in Pennsylvania on 29 January on charges related to the storming of the U.S. Capitol building after the FBI said one of the women expressed an intent to shoot House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Dawn Bancroft and Diana Santos-Smith were identified by law enforcement after the FBI said it received a tip on 12 January with a video purportedly capturing the two women as they left the U.S. Capitol on 6 January amid a large mob of people, according to a criminal complaint.
Meryl Kornfield has more details on this one below:
Matt Mathers30 January 2021 12:40
Ilhan Omar jumps into GameStop controversy and hits out at Wall Street: ‘If they cut off the public, send them to prison’
Rep. Ihan Omar has called for Wall Street billionaires who stop the public from buying shares to face prison, as she joined the controversy surrounding GameStop.
The progressive Democrat has become the latest to publicly criticise the investment trading app Robinhood, who on Friday reversed a decision to suspend trading on GamesStop stock.
Gino Spocchia has the story:
Matt Mathers30 January 2021 12:25
ICYMI: I was a violent white supremacist – I know hate groups like the Proud Boys won’t disappear with Trump
“If the violent far-right siege on the Capitol didn’t signal to American politicians and law enforcement that the US has an extremist radicalisation problem and that hate is not just a hoax, let my eight years of experience as a violent white supremacist, and the subsequent 25 years since that I’ve spent denouncing my past racist beliefs and working to educate others, serve as a warning,” writes Christian Picciolini. Read the full piece here:
Matt Mathers30 January 2021 11:55
Black Lives Matter movement nominated for Nobel peace prize
The Black Lives Matter movement has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize following a year in which protests demanding racial justice exploded across the world.
Norwegian MP Petter Eide said in his nomination papers that the movement had forced countries other than the US to face up to racism within their own societies.
Tom Embury-Dennis with the full report below:
Matt Mathers30 January 2021 11:40
CDC issues public transport Covid mask mandate
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a sweeping order late on Friday requiring the use of face masks on nearly all forms of public transportation Monday as the country continues to report thousands of daily Covid-19 deaths.
The order, which takes effect at 11:59pm EST on Monday, requires face masks to be worn by all travelers on airplanes, ships, trains, subways, buses, taxis, and ride-shares and at transportation hubs like airports, bus or ferry terminals, train and subway stations and seaports.
President Joe Biden on 21 Jan ordered government agencies to “immediately take action” to require masks in airports and on commercial aircraft, trains and public maritime vessels, including ferries, intercity bus services and all public transportation.
Matt Mathers30 January 2021 11:25
ICYMI: GameStop shows that Biden must fix capitalism before it’s too late
“The Gamestop debacle this week has reminded us of Biden’s most important mission: to fix capitalism, and make it work for Main Street as well as Wall Street”, writes Sid Mohasseb.
Read Sid’s full take on this story below:
Matt Mathers30 January 2021 11:10
Marjorie Taylor Greene suggested Ruth Bader Ginsburg had been replaced by a body double
Marjorie Taylor Greene once suggested that Ruth Bader Ginsburg had been replaced by a body double years before her death, it has emerged.
Congresswoman Greene made the comments in an interview posted to the Facebook page of United America First in February 2019.
Justin Vallejo has the full story:
Matt Mathers30 January 2021 10:55
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